Post-treatment of anaerobic baffled reactor effluent using modified up-flow anaerobic filter

Abstract

Clean water is a critical requirement for many purposes to support human life. Water shortages recently occurred in many places worldwide, and we need to explore alternative sources for clean water provision. This study was conducted for exploring the possibility to use treated wastewater as a clean water source in which the quality has to be met the health requirement of clean water. The outdoor experiment was conducted using the hybrid system of the lab- scale anaerobic baffled reactor (ABR) and up-flow anaerobic filter (UAF). The wastewater was pumped from the wastewater treatment plant in the Islamic boarding school of Al Umm Malang. The results revealed that the UAF could reduce turbidity and total dissolved solids (TDS) by 28% and 22%, respectively. However, the alkalinity concentration increased by 1% in the UAF effluent. It was predicted due to carbonate and bicarbonate content in the filter media. The UAF removed 54% of total coliform (TC), and the effluent concentration reaches approximately 153 MPN/100 ml.